Publishing your episodes to Apple Podcasts exposes your show to a large global audience, with potential listeners in countries all over the world. For your episodes to appear in Apple Podcasts, you must submit your show to the Apple Podcasts store for approval.
Plan the Timing of Your Submission
Libsyn recommends that you begin the submission process a full month before the date you want to launch your show on Apple Podcasts. The reason is that, after you submit, Apple can take a week to approve your show. Then, it can take another week after that before your show becomes fully searchable in their store. Also, if you are publishing to any apps that pull your information from Apple Podcasts, it could take a full month for those apps to get access to your show from Apple.
It's also important to consider that, if your show gets rejected by Apple for any reason, submitting a month ahead of your launch date gives you enough time to address issues and resubmit.
Prepare for Submission
Before you submit, set up your show in Libsyn so that your RSS feed works properly. Apple uses the RSS feed generated by Libsyn to make your episodes available to your audience on the app.
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Note You will use your Libsyn Classic Feed to connect to Apple Podcasts. Libsyn Classic Feed is your main RSS feed. If you want any information in that feed to be different than what you entered in your show settings, you can customize your Libsyn Classic Feed. |
After you set up your show, make sure to publish your first episodes. You need to publish at least one episode (either a trailer or a full episode) but it is a good idea to provide a few. It's necessary to provide some content because Apple reviews it to make sure it meets their content guidelines.
When your show is set and you have at least one episode published, you're ready to submit to Apple Podcasts.
Submit Your Show
To submit your show, you'll need information from Libsyn, so it's useful to have two windows open: one with your Apple Podcasts Connect account, and another with your Libsyn account.
To submit your show:
- Use your Apple ID and password to sign in to Apple Podcasts Connect. (If you don't have an Apple ID, set one up on Apple's Create Your Apple ID page.)
- If it's your first time signing in, click Get Started, fill in the fields in the Set Up Account form, and then click Save. The Podcasts page opens.
- Click the
icon to the right of the Podcasts header and then select New Show in the menu that appears. The Choose a Show Type window opens.
- Select Add a show with an RSS feed and then click Next. The Add an RSS Feed window opens.
- Go to your Libsyn account and click the
icon on the left to open the Dashboards page if you're not already there.
- In the Quick Links section, click the
icon next to Libsyn Classic Feed. The URL for your RSS feed is now copied to the clipboard.
- Go back to Apple Podcasts Connect and paste the URL you just copied in the RSS Feed URL field.
- Click Add. Apple reads the contents of your RSS feed and opens a new page with information about your show.
Note
It can take a little time for Apple to import your information. If your information isn't available right away, log off and come back later to finish the submission process.
- Review your show's information in the Show Details section of the page. If any information does not appear correctly, log out and go back to your podcast settings to make updates or make updates to your Libsyn Classic Feed. If you need assistance, contact our Support team at support@libsyn.com.
- In the Show Details section, select the appropriate option in the Update Frequency field. Apple will show the option you select to let your listeners know how often you intend to publish episodes.
- In the Content Rights section, select the appropriate option and then click Save at the top of the page.
- In the Show Contact section, enter your contact information and then click Save at the top of the page.
- Select the Availability tab on the left and specify when you want your show to be released on Apple Podcasts and where you want it to appear. To do so, enter information in the following sections:
Countries or Regions In this section, select Make this show available in X of 174 countries or regions to specify which countries you want to release your show in. To select the countries, click Edit to the right of Make this show available in X of 174 countries or regions and then select the countries in the window that opens. When you're done making selections, click Done. Show Release In this section, select Release the show as soon as it's published to release your show on Apple Podcasts as soon as it's approved by Apple. Or, select Release the show and enter a date to specify the exact day you want to release your show. - Click Save at the top of the page.
- Click Submit for Review at the top of the page.
Your show is now submitted for review at Apple. Apple Podcasts will contact you directly over email about your show's approval. After you're approved, all you have to do is publish episodes in Libsyn and they will appear in Apple Podcasts automatically.